Tuesday, October 26, 2010

RE: A Tea Party...Democrat?

Not often to I feel the need to respond to my partner in crime here, but today I was moved. The suggestion that the Democrats are not going to have enormous losses at the hands of the Tea party is ill advised at best. It is going to be a bad election year for the Dems.

High unemployment, a ballooning deficit and out of control banking system has most Americans up in arms. The outlook for our country has not looked this bleak in a generation or more. All of these things are fueling a backlash against the establishment of government as a whole. It is also clearly targeted at everyone in Washington, not just those that fall on the left. That is where the Tea Party begins to show it's teeth.
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A Tea Party...Democrat!?

The big scary election is two weeks away. Newspapers are prophesying fire and brimstone for the Democratic majorities, and the Tea Party is proving left and right that they do not know jack about the United States. Like a double rainbow, many are wondering what it all means. As for that, I think there is more hype than fact to predictions about Democratic loses; in all actuality the Tea Party will prove about as useful as a knife at a gun fight to the Republicans. Times may be tough, in fact I am fairly sure they are, but the Tea Party is still just a loud minority that has yet to put up a single electable candidate since its inception with Sarah Palin.

Where the loses might come, as may be true here in New York's 13th Congressional District, is from the Democrats themselves. I for one take issue with "Democrat" and incumbent Michael McMahon. He voted against healthcare, he wants to keep all the Bush tax cuts and he opposes future stimulus. What exactly does he hope to accomplish by watering down his platform?

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Sunday, June 13, 2010

Obama Plans to Force BP’s Hand on Oil Spill Fund (LEAVE BP ALONE!)


An interesting article, that should hopefully silence the "Obama hasn't done anything" crowd. Here's what gets me, Obama is making his fourth trip to the area since the disaster began two months ago. How many trips did Bush make to New Orleans for Katrina? I don't know the answer, but I'll look and we can talk about that later.

My favorite part of the artitle was this:

Inside BP, there is a view that President Obama’s unflinching criticism of BP and its chief executive represents an unprecedented example of a chief of state interfering in the affairs of a corporation.

And while some officials inside the company recognize that the president faces severe political pressures, there is also a resentment that the company has become a whipping boy even as it does its best on the clean-up.

dot dot dot

Seriously, I am not one to abuse the ellipsis (my good friend is a copy-editor and would have my head) but I cannot come up with much more than a blank stare for that remark.

When your company is single-handedly responsible for the most catastrophic environmental crisis in a country copiously lax on environmental issues as the United States (I love living here, but let's own up, compared to other industrial nations, our regulations are bit weak), I think you deserve just about all the criticism that comes your way. It's kinda like the beaches along the coast; they are gonna get covered in your mess whether they want to or not, so you need to take the criticism whether you like it or not.

Yes, yes, BP is working hard and spending money money money on the cleanup. But, over two straight months of largely unmitigated oil leakage? I work a manual labor job, if it took me two months to get absolutely nothing done, I would get an earful from my foreman. Just because you are trying does not mean that you are exempt from criticism, this is the real world, not AYSO.




Thursday, April 15, 2010

Friday, March 26, 2010

'Tanning Tax' in Health Care Reform Law Raises Industry Ire - ABC News

'Tanning Tax' in Health Care Reform Law Raises Industry Ire - ABC News

I have two problems with this story. First, that they are making it seem like NO ONE knew about this tax. I did...and if I can find out with relatively little effort, it can't be that bad, take little goggles off and read the newspaper. Second, people are complaining that revenue is going to go down because of the tax on tanning. Right, just like Phillip Morris is going bankrupt because of taxes on cigarettes. People do not go tanning because it is necessary to survive, they tan because they have heaps of disposable income (and time) to waste on sitting under some Fast Food Grade UV lamps.

I find these sob stories extremely hard to believe. Better luck next time.

Besides, these taxes are just an investment in the melanoma treatment you'll need by the time you get on Medicare. It's like that movie "Pay it Forward."

Monday, March 15, 2010

Shut Up Already!

This is going to be a quick one this morning.

I am t i r e d of hearing about this out of control Prius. So tired of it I am not even going to link to the story about it and just assume that you've all heard of it.

I've seen no fewer than three news stories already this morning (it's seven AM) about how the government "may never know what happened"

I'll tell you what happened, the car went to fast, there is an entire Senate Committee meeting to figure out why Toyota's are "Moving Forward" whether you want them to or not.

The real question is: Why is the government trying to figure out this one Prius incident? I get the committee hearing, but this one car really seems like something Toyota should be doing on its own.

Thoughts, fans?

Monday, February 22, 2010

Apparently It's Cold in Hell Too!

So the weather around here, as well as many parts of the country, is -- delightfully -- frigid, but apparently Hell is suffering the same Arctic air mass. That's right, according to the New York Times, Democrats and Republicans have finally come together to work on solving some of this nation's problems! Or have they?

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Oh wait, no, Republicans did not actually finally agree to work with the Democratic majority; they agreed to talk to them. Well I suppose that's a start.

My icy heart skipped a beat when I saw the headline that the Grand Olde Party had crossed party lines to pass a $15 Billion job creation bill, only to read that all they really happened was a "Cloture Motion [was] Agreed to" according to senate.gov.

Cloture basically means they agreed to vote on the bill. Awesome. We united to vote on whether or not we should vote on a bill, and we agreed...mostly(the noble civil servants from my great state voted Nay and Not Present, go get 'em boys!) The Senate is really moving at breakneck speed to get this slowly recovering economy back on track.

Enough of my cynicism, the bill is really pretty, well, cool. It basically says that any company that hires unemployed workers does not have to file payroll tax on those workers for the rest of the year. Really, I can't see much of an objection to that. I am a fan of taxes paying for useful things like the wonderful interstate highway system (which proudly employees me over the summer) and this great, practically free public college education I get. How is it that I am a fan of this big tax hole? Well the government is not collecting taxes from these workers as is, so it's not a net loss for the government, really its a break even that could jump start things back into motion and hopefully next year when the taxes would have to be collected on these workers the economy will be strong enough from the new employment to keep all these men and women employed. Here's hoping, both that the bill works and that maybe Republicans will finally work with the Democrats on a regular basis to get something done.